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# A documentary about America's last two staff art critics has been released: House of Criticism, directed by Alison Chernick
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/vyshel-dokumentalnyi-film-o-dvukh-poslednikh-shtatnykh-art-kritikakh-ameriki-house-of-criticism-rezhissiora-elison-chernik/
- Published: 2026-07-15T15:45:52.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:25:37.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Art, Cinema, New York, Society

A documentary about America's last two staff art critics has been released: House of Criticism, directed by Alison Chernick. The film tells the story of the lives of Roberta Smith and Jerry Saltz.

Smith joined The New York Times in 1986 on a part-time basis; in 2011 she became the first woman to serve as the newspaper's co-chief art critic, and she left in 2024, while this film was being shot. Her method took shape under the influence of the minimalist Donald Judd. On the recommendation of a school counsellor she entered the Whitney's independent programme, where she was accepted because Judd agreed to become her mentor and personal assistant, and she later edited a collection of his criticism.

The film is about the disappearance of this profession. It concerns the last two full-time art critic posts in the USA, while Saltz's columns appear ever more rarely, giving way to short videos made to order for the magazine.

Smith herself held that a critic receives power from readers and does not seize it, building a trust that they may withdraw at any moment